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Men's Style

The Thinking Man's Guide to Dress

Men's Styleis a personal and knowledgeable compendium of tasteful advice for the thinking man on how to dress and shop for clothes in a world of conflicting fashion imperatives. This sophisticated and witty book by the popularGlobe and Mailcolumnist combines nuggets of history and the sociology of masculine attire with a practical and supremely useful guide to achieving an elegant and affordable wardrobe for work and play. In chapters and amusing sidebars on shoes, suits, shirts and ties, formal and casual wear, underwear and swimsuits, cufflinks and watches, coats, hats, and scarves, Russell Smith steers a confident course between the hazards of blandness and vulgarity to articulate a philosophy of dress that can take you anywhere. He tells you what the rules are for looking the part at the office, a formal function, or the hippest party, and when you can toss those rules aside. Men's Styleis supplemented throughout with fifty black-and-white illustrations and diagrams by illustrator Edwin Fotheringham. From the Hardcover edition.

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This book is excellent not so much for it's clothing advice (which is largely sound,) but for the author's exploration of the social aspects of clothing. I especially enjoyed his treatment of the idea that "dressing up" is "pretentious."

I like the way Russell goes about things. While the book could be read as a guide, Smith spends more time outlining an approach to dress. Free-wheeling, not so stuck up, but nevertheless, surprisingly Anglo-Canadian in its reserve, I've relied on this book, and Russell directly, to explain to those new to sartorial matters how to tackle the problem. Admittedly this is a book to read as opposed to being a visual guide, which there are aplenty.

While there are some useful tips in this book, you have to wade through pages and pages of the author showing off his knowledge of the history of men's fashion in order to get to them. With some of the recommendations that the author makes I find myself wondering what planet he is from. Carson Kressley's book is much more practical than this one.